Salvage machine and harvester

ABSTRACT

This invention is directed to apparatus and method for working pieces of wood and which pieces of wood may have a flat side or may be a log. The apparatus and method are directed to the climb cutting or climb milling, on the face of the wood, and the rotary milling, cutting through the wood, to the working of said pieces of wood so as to form useable lumber and to form useable wood chips, and which wood chips can be further processed to make useful products of manufacture. One of the side features of this invention is the utilization of small pieces of wood and which small pieces of wood, prior to this invention, were either chipped or burned instead of being further processed to more economically valuable lumber.

United States Patent 1 1 Pease May 20, 1975 SALVAGE MACHINE ANDHARVESTER Primary Examiner-Donald R. Schran [76] lnventor: Lionel Pease,2333 NW. 98th,

Seattle, Wash. 98107 [57] ABSTRACT Filfldl e 11, 1969 This invention isdirected to apparatus and method for [2|] AppL NO; 848,994 workingpieces of wood and which pieces of wood may have a flat side or may be alog. The apparatus and method are directed to the climb cutting or climbCl 144/172; 4/ 2 milling, on the face of the wood, and the rotarymilll44/326 R ing, cutting through the wood, to the working of said [5i]Illl. Cl. B276 1/00; B27] l 02 pieces of wood so as [0 form useablelumber and to Field Search 172, form useable wood chips, and which woodchips can 3 4| be further processed to make useful products ofmanufacture.v References C'ted One of the side features of thisinvention is the UNITED STATES PATENTS utilization of small pieces ofwood and which small 3,082,802 3/1963 Dickson et at. [44/326 B pieces ofwood, prior to this invention, were either 3.259.157 7/1966 un onl44/3I2 chipped or burned instead of being further processed 3,344,826Mitten l44/l62 X to more economicany valuable lumber 3,447,578 6/]969Mitten l44/2l8 X 20 Claims, 75 Drawing Figures sum OlflF 12 PATENTEI]MAY 2 01975 407 V; gm

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PATENTEDmzmsrs 3884.281

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1 SALVAGE MACHINE AND HARVESTER This invention is directed to apparatusand methods for increasing the economic value of products from pieces ofwood. Prior to this invention, small pieces of wood were usually burnedin a burner so as to pollute the surrounding atmosphere or were chippedto make chips. The economic value of the chips was greater than theeconomic value of pieces of wood being burned in a burner. However, ifthe pieces of wood consigned to the burner could have been furtherprocessed to make lumber, the economic value of the lumber would begreater than the economic value of the chips. Therefore, this inventionis directed to raising the economic value of the products from pieces ofwood so as to realize a greater monetary return from these pieces ofwood than has been previously realized.

There is a scarcity of apparatus and methods for the working of smallpieces of wood such as slabs, flitches, mismanufactured pieces of lumberand logs in the range of 3 to 48 inches in diameter so as to make usefullumber products. It is possible to burn or chip the slabs, flitches andthe small logs less than about 6 inches in diameter. However, with theburning and the chipping of these pieces of wood, the maximum economicvalue is not being realized. A piece of lumber is more valuable thanwood chips while wood chips are more valuable than wood discards sent tothe burner. lf these small pieces of wood are chipped, there is thrownaway potentially valuable lumber. The lumber may be a l by 1 inch piece,or a l by 2 inch piece, or a 1 by 3 inch piece of lumber. These smallpieces of lumber can be used in the manufacture of trailers, dividers,skids for small appliances, and pallet boards. And, in certain'instances, these small pieces of lumber are used in furniture framing.As is readily apparent, if the small pieces of wood are converted intochips, the maximum realizable value from the small pieces of wood is notobtained. Instead, a lower economic return is realized from these smallpieces of wood when converted into chips as compared to being convertedinto the combination of small pieces of lumber and useful wood chips. Itis to be realized that in addition to making these small pieces oflumber, the subject of this invention can economically make largerpieces of lumber such as 2 by 4 inches, 2 by 6 inches and larger piecesof lumber than these.

in the breakdown of a log. one of the ways to break down the log is toremove slabs and flitches from the log. In many instances, there issufficient potential lumber in a slab to make it worthwhile to furtherprocess the slab to make lumber and useful wood chips. For example, aslab may contain at least one 1 by 2 inches of at least 6 feet inlength. With the methods and apparatus of this invention, it iseconomically useful to process this slab to make this one 1 by 2 inchesand the useful wood chips. in many small logs, the slab is sawedespecially thick so as to eliminate one saw line. With the methods andapparatus of this invention, it is possible to eliminate saw lines andtherefore eliminate useless sawdust or, in other words, to make usefulchips out of the wood and which wood, prior to this invention, wouldhave been partially turned into useless sawdust.

Another way of breaking down a log is to chip away the periphery of thelog so as to form wood chips and to form a cant. A limitation on thechipping of a log is that presently available equipment will handle alog of a maximum diameter of 24 inches, see my US. Pat. No. 3,373,782,entitled SIDE, TOP AND BOTTOM CHIP- PERS, Issuing date of Mar. 19, 1968.

With mismanufactured lumber such as lumber having two flat sides and twocurved sides or lumber having two flat sides and one curved side orlumber having three flat sides and one curved side, it is possible, withthe apparatus and methods of this invention, to further economicallyprocess this mismanufactured lumber to useful lumber and to useful woodchips instead of converting all of this mismanufactured lumber to chipsor hog fuel or to send it to the burner.

With the apparatus and teachings of this invention, it is possible toprocess logs up to 48 inches in diameter. Instead of sawing off slabsand flitches or chipping off the exterior of the log, it is possible tosubstantially simultaneously saw and chip the log to form a wane edgeflitch and useful wood chips. Then, the wane edge flitch can be furtherprocessed and chipped to form a cant and useful wood chips.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a chipper headwhich can simultaneously top chip and side chip, on two sides, a pieceof wood; another object is to provide a chipper head which cansimultaneously side chip two sides of a piece of wood and chip saidpiece of wood to split or divide said piece of wood into two pieces ofwood; an additional object is to provide the combination of feed meansand a chipper head to keep a piece of wood in a straight travel line; afurther object is to provide an apparatus for the simultaneous moving ofan anvil and a chipper head; an additional object is to provide a uniqueknife structure for regularly and annularly chipping a piece of wood;another important object is to provide an apparatus for climb cutting orclimb milling so as to chip the face of a piece of wood and to provideapparatus for rotary milling for chipping into the body of a piece ofwood; another important object is to provide a salvage machine whichmakes it possible to save one sawdust line in the working of a piece ofwood in that there is a combination of a chipper head and a saw inassociation with the head rig for working a log; another object is toprovide a harvester machine and which harvester machine may save up tothree sawdust lines and also save unnecessary handling of a piece ofwood; a further important object is to provide method and apparatus forchipping a slab to form a wane edge flitch, and to provide method andapparatus for chipping a slab to form a cant", another object is toprovide method and apparatus which eliminates some handling of smallpieces of wood in the mill; an additional object is to provide methodand apparatus which eliminates labor in the processing of small piecesof wood in the mill and in addition saves material in the processing ofsmall pieces of wood in the mill as one saw line is saved per turn ofthe log and therefore there is eliminated useless sawdust and, inconjunction with the elimination of the saw line there is made possiblethe processing of more logs per unit of time and therefore less cost forprocessing of a log, from a labor and handling standpoint; an additionalobject is to provide method and apparatus for saving labor in thehandling of small troublesome pieces of wood; another importantobject isto provide a method and apparatus for saving in regard to handling andtransfer equipment; an additional object is to provide method andapparatus so as to save on the maintenance cost on non-existentequipment such as handling and transfer equipment; an additional objectis to provide method and apparatus which simplifies the processing ofwood as there is eliminated many steps in the handling of wood; anotherimportant object and advantage of the invention is to make possible agreater economic utilization of the potential in wood as the wood isconverted to lumber, which is of more economic value, than wood chips; afurther important object of the invention is to provide method andapparatus which requires less initial investment for handling small logsand pieces of wood than presently available equipment, either from onesource or a combination of many sources; another important object andadvantage of the invention is to provide method and apparatus forsalvaging useable lumber and useable wood chips, without waste such assawdust from a sawline, from mismanufactured pieces of lumber having oneor two curved surfaces in conjunction with one or more flat surfaces; anadditional object is to provide an apparatus for moving the chipper headand part of the anvil for ensuring the making of useful chips from thepiece of wood; another important object is to provide method andapparatus for chipping a piece of wood to substantially simultaneouoslyform two flat surfaces on a processed piece of wood; and, an additionalimportant object and advantage is to provide apparatus, of the samebasic design, and which apparatus can be made in various sizes to handlelogs of a wide range of diameter from approximately 3 inches in diameterthrough approximately 48 inches in diameter.

These and other important objects and advantages of the invention willbe more particularly brought forth upon reference to the accompanyingdrawings, the detailed description of the invention and the appendedclaims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a slab of wood, on the left, beingprocessed by the salvage machine with a climb cut or a climb mill tomake a wane edge flitch, on the right;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a slab of wood, on the left, beingprocessed by a harvester machine in a climb cut or a climb mill actionand also in a rotary mill action to form a cant, on the right;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side elevational view of the harvester machineillustrating the chipper head, the means for raising and lowering thechipper head with respect to the bed of the harvester machine, and thefront and back lower feed rolls and the upper press rolls;

FIG. 4, taken on line 44 of FIG. 3, is a schematic lateral horizontalcross-sectional view illustrating the feed table, the lower feed rolls,the chipper head and anvil, and the motor for driving the chipper headand the feed rolls;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view looking at the front face of theanvil;

FIG. 6 is a plan view looking down on the anvil;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the anvil;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the combination of the chipper headand the anvil of the harvester machine;

FIG. 9 is a rear elevational view of the combination of the chipper headand anvil of the harvester machine;

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of the combination of the chipperhead and the anvil of the harvester machine;

FIG. 11 is a schematic side elevational view of the mechanical linkagefor moving the chipper head and the anvil relative to each other;

FIG. 12 is a rear elevational view of the mechanical linkage, in theharvester machine, for moving the chipper head and the anvil relative toeach other;

FIG. 13 is a plan view illustrating the mechanical linkage for movingthe chipper head, relative to the anvil;

FIG. 14 is a plan view looking at the anvil of the salvage machine;

FIG. 15 is a side elevational view of the anvil of the salvage machine;

FIG. 16 is a front elevational view of the anvil of the salvage machine;

FIG. 17 is an elevational view of the chipper head of the salvagemachine;

FIG. 18 is a side elevational view of the chipper head of the salvagemachine and illustrates the chipping knives in a spiral relationship;

FIG. 19 is a schematic side elevational view of the combination of thechipper head and anvil of the salvage machine;

FIG. 20 is a rear elevational view of the combination of the chipperhead and anvil of the salvage machine;

FIG. 21 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a chipper segment,illustrating the means for positioning the chipping knife, of a chipperhead of the salvage machine;

FIG. 22 is a rear elevational view of a chipping knife as used for climbcutting or climb milling a piece of wood, i.e., cutting into the surfaceof a piece of wood, and which knife is used in the salvage machine andis also used for climb milling in the harvester machine;

FIG. 23 is a side elevational view of the knife of FIG. 22 and at theupper apex illustrates the annular cutting edge of this knife when theknife is positioned in the chipper head;

FIG. 24 is a front elevational view of the chipping knife of FIG. 22;

FIG. 25 is a rear elevational view of a chipping knife as used in theharvester machine and illustrates the wider face of the chipping knifeas compared with the narrower back and which chipping knife is used forrotary milling of the piece of wood, i.e., cutting through the body ofthe piece of wood, and which chipping knife can be used in the harvestermachine;

FIG. 26 is a side elevational view of the chipping knife of FIG. 25 andat the apex illustrates the annular cutting edge of the chipping knifewhen the chipping knife is positioned in the chipper head;

FIG. 27, taken on line 27-27 of FIG. 26, is a lateral cross-sectionalview of the chipping knife and at the two right edges or corners thereis illustrated the two radial cutting edges of this chipping knife whenthis chipping knife is placed in the chipper head;

FIG. 28 is an elevational view of a harvester head assembly;

FIG. 29 is a fragmentary illustration of a chipper head segment forrotary milling and illustrates the means for holding the chipping knife;

FIG. 30 is a schematic side elevational view of a chipper knife used forclimb cutting or climb milling a slab;

FIG. 31 is a schematic illustration of a slab and illustrates, by brokenline, the portion of the slab removed by climb cutting and illustratesby solid line the resulting wane edge flitch;

FIG. 32 is a side view of a wood chip produced by climb cutting or climbmilling of a piece of wood;

FIG. 33 is a plan view of a wood chip produced by climb cutting or climbmilling;

FIG. 34 is a schematic side elevational view of a chipper knife rotarymilling a piece of wood;

FIG. 35 is a schematic illustration of the rotary milling of a flitch bya chipper head and which chipper head is only fragmentarily illustrated;

FIG. 36 is an elevational view of a series of wood chips produced by therotary milling of a piece of wood,

FIG. 37 is a side elevational view of a wood chip produced by the rotarymilling of wood;

FIG. 38 is an end view of a wood chip produced by the rotary milling ofa piece of wood;

FIG. 39 is the schematic illustration of the positioning and movement ofa log on a head rig and which log is moved past a rotary millingchipping head and a saw;

FIG. 40 is a schematic rear view of the head rig, log, band saw androtary chipper head for removing a peripheral portion of the log by arotary milling action of the chipper head and to form a wane edgeclitch;

FIG. 41 is a front view of the head rig, the log, the chipper head forrotary milling the peripheral portion of the log, and the band saw forsawing the log to form a wane edge flitch;

FIG. 42 is a rear view or an outfeed view of an apparatus having achipper head for rotary milling a mismanufactured piece of lumber andwhich mismanufactured piece of lumber has three flat sides and a curvedside;

FIG. 43 is a front view or an infeed view of a chipper head for rotarymilling a mismanufactured piece of lumber to form a useful piece oflumber and which mismanufactured piece of lumber has three flat sidesand a curved side;

FIG. 44 is a schematic side elevational view illustrating the chipperhead and feed rolls and fence rolls for rotary milling a piece of wood;

FIG. 45 is an end view of a mismanufactured piece of lumber having threeflat sides and a curved side and by means of a phantom line illustratesthat portion of the mismanufactured piece of wood which will be removedas wood chips;

FIG. 46 is an end view illustration of a useful piece of lumbermanufactured from the mismanufactured piece of lumber from FIG. 45;

FIG. 47 is an end view of a mismanufactured piece of lumber having threeflat sides and a curved side, and shows by means of a broken line thatportion of the mismanufactured piece of lumber which will be removed aschips;

FIG. 48 is an end view of a useful piece of lumber manufactured from themismanufactured piece of lumber of FIG. 47;

FIG. 49 is an end view of a mismanufactured piece of lumber having threeflat sides and a curved side, and

illustrates by means of a broken line that portion of the lumber whichwill be removed as wood chips;

FIG. 50 is an end view of a useful piece of lumber manufactured from themismanufactured piece of lumber of FIG. 49;

FIG. 51 is a schematic illustration of a chipper head used in aharvester machine and which chipper head is used for rotary millingonly;

FIG. 52 is a schematic illustration of a chipper head used in aharvester machine and which chipper head may be used for both rotarymilling of a piece of wood and for a combination of rotary milling andclimb milling of a piece of wood;

FIG. 53 is an end elevational view of a chipper head used in rotarymilling and which chipper segments are arranged in a spiralconfiguration so that the outside chipper knives first contact the pieceof wood being chipped and therefore remove the wood as chips as if thepiece of wood were being peeled;

FIG. 54 is a front elevational view of the chipper head having thechipping knives arranged in a spiral as illustrated in FIG. 53;

FIG. 55 is a schematic side elevational view illustrating a chipperhead, an anvil having a fixed anvil part and a movable anvil part, andmeans for moving the chipper head;

FIG. 56 is a rear elevational view of the chipper head, the anvil havingthe fixed anvil part and the anvil having the movable anvil part withthe chipper head connected to the movable anvil part;

FIG. 57 is a rear elevational view of the movable anvil part of FIGS. 55and 56;

FIG. 58 is a rear elevational view of the anvil having the fixed anvilpart and the movable part and illustrates the movable anvil part fittingwith the fixed anvil part;

FIG. 59 is a plan view of the fixed anvil part and illustrates the slotsin the fixed anvil part through which the movable anvil part moves;

FIG. 60 is an elevational view of a chipper head used in a harvestermachine for rotary milling flitches and illustrates a chipper forsplitting or dividing said flitches into two cants;

FIG. 61 is an end elevational view of the chipper head of FIG. 60 and across-sectional view of the anvil used in combination with the chipperhead;

FIG. 62 is a rear elevational view of the combination of the chipperhead of FIG. 60 and the anvil associated with said chipper head;

FIG. 63 is a plan view of the anvil of FIG. 61 and 62.

FIG. 64 is a side view of the anvil of FIGS. 61, 62 and 63;

FIG. 65 is a side elevational view of the chipper head and the anvilhaving a stationary anvil part and a movable anvil part, as used in theharvester, see FIGS. 55, 56, 58 and 59, and illustrates the movableanvil part as moving in the guide slot of the stationary anvil part, andfurther illustrates the movable anvil part in a lower position so thatthe chipper head is used in conjunction with the stationary anvil part;

FIG. 66 is a side elevational view of the anvil of FIG. 65 andillustrates the movable anvil part and the chipper head in a raisedposition or elevated position so that the chipper head is used inconjunction with the movable anvil part;

FIG. 67 is a schematic view of a chipper head used in a harvestermachine and illustrates a fixed part of the chipper head on a shaft andillustrates a movable part of the chipper head on said shaft so that thespacing between the fixed part of the chipper head and the movable partof the chipper head may be varied;

FIG. 68 is a schematic illustration of a chipper head, for rotarymilling, as used in a harvester machine, and illustrates a chipper knifesegment for splitting or dividing a cant and illustrates a first movablepart of the chipper head, on the left, and illustrates a second movablepart of the chipper head, on the right, for moving the two parts of thechipper head so as to have a different spacing between the two parts ofthe chipper head and the chipper head used for splitting or dividing acant, and with provision for moving the left part of the chipper head soas to be next to and adjacent the splitter chipper head so in effect tohave two rotary milling heads on the shaft;

FIG. 69 is a schematic side elevational view of a rotary milling chipperhead and a shotgun carriage for moving a piece of wood such as a logpast the rotary milling chipping heads;

FIG. 70 is an end elevational view of the apparatus of FIG. 69 andillustrates the two spaced apart rotary milling chipping heads formilling a log so as to form a flitch having two flat sides and twocurved sides from said log;

FIG. 71 is an end view of a wane edge cant formed from the log andapparatus of FIG. 70 and which wane edge cant has two flat sides and twocurved sides;

FIG. 72 is an end view of a wane edgecant having four flat sides andfour curved sides;

FIG. 73 is an end view of a square cant;

FIG. 74 is an end view of a piece of lumber having six flat sides andwhich piece of lumber may be manufactured on the apparatus of FIGS. 69and 70; and,

FIG. 75 is an end view of a piece of lumber having eight flat sides andwhich piece of lumber may be manufactured on the apparatus of FIGS. 69and 70.

This invention is directed to the working and processing of a piece ofwood such as a slab, a flitch, or a log. There are various features ofthis invention. In order to more clearly follow this invention and thevarious features, a brief outline of the applicable drawings to acertain feature is presented. For example, there is the salvage machine,and there is the harvester machine. The salvage machine and theharvester machine use the same frame and basic structure. The maindifference between the salvage machine and the harvester machine residesin the chipper head and the anvil.

The salvage machine is designed to climb cut or climb mill a flitch or aslab of wood. The salvage machine removes the undesirable wood in theform of wood chips. With a slab, the salvage machine produces wood chipsand a flitch. With a poor quality flitch, the salvage machine produceswood chips and a high quality flitch. In the drawings, FIGS. 1, 3, 4, 12through 24 and through 33 are applicable to the salvage machine.

The harvester machine is designed to climb cut or to climb mill and torotary mill a slab, a flitch, mismanufactured lumber and a log. With aslab, the harvester machine removes the undesirable wood as chips andproduces a cant. With a flitch, the harvester machine removes theundesirable wood as chips and produces a cant. With mismanufacturedlumber, the harvester machine removes the undesirable wood as chips andproduces a higher quality lumber. With a log, the harvester machineremoves the undesirable wood as chips and produces a flat surface on thelog. In the drawings the figures applicable to the harvester machine areFIGS. 2 through 13, 22 through 29, 34 through 38 and 51 through 75.

In the salvage machine and in the harvester machine there is acombination of a chipper head and an anvil. In the drawings the figuresapplicable to this combination of chipper head and anvil are FIGS. 3through 21, 55 through 56, 61, 62, 65 and 66.

The harvester machine may be used in conjunction with a saw and a headrig. The harvester machine removes the outer portion of the log so as toproduce an outer flat surface while the saw cuts more toward the centerof the log so as to produce a second flat surface and, in effect, toproduce a wane edge flitch. In addition, with the harvester machinechipping the undesirable wood from the outer portion of the log, thereis eliminated one saw line and what would have been a waste productsawdust now becomes a useful product wood chip. In the drawings thefigures applicable to the combination of the saw, harvester machine andhead rig are FIGS. 39 through 41.

With mismanufactured lumber, there is produced a low quality ornon-commercially useable lumber. This is an economic waste. For example,in the manufacture of lumber maybe the manufacturer wanted to produce a2 by 4 inches but the raw material was not sufficient to produce this 2by 4 inches and there was produced mismanufactured lumber which had nocommercial value. With the subject of this invention, it is possible toremove the undesirable wood as wood chips from this mismanufacturedlumber and to produuce, say from a mismanufactured 2 by 4 inches, usefulwood chips and a l by 2 inches or a 2 by 2 inches or a 2 by 3 inches ora l by 4 inches. In the drawings, the figures applicable to thereworking of mismanufactured lumber are FIGS. 42-50.

With this invention, a variation of the harvester machine may havemovable chipper heads on the drive shaft. One of the chipper heads maybe movable on the drive shaft or both of the chipper heads may bemovable on the drive shaft for accommodating different size flitches. Inthe drawings, the figures applicable for movable chipper headsare FIGS.40-43, 67 and 68.

In combination with the movable chipper heads on the drive shaft of theharvester machine, there may be used a splitter head. For example, awane edge flitch may be fed to the harvester machine and the movablechipper head positioned on the drive shaft so as to remove the wane. Thesplitter head may be used to divide the flitch into two cants. In thedrawings, the figures applicable to the splitter head are FIGS. 60, 62and 68.

The harvester machine may also be used in conjunction with a head rig.In fact, there are two harvester machine chipper heads which actsubstantially simultaneously on a log or a wane edge cant to remove theundesirable wood to make a more highly processed or more highly workedpiece of lumber. In the drawings the figures applicable to the twoharvester machine chipper heads acting substantially simultaneously on alog or a wane edge cant are FIGS. 69-75.

With reference to the salvage machine and FIGS. 1, 14-24 and 30-33, inFIG. 1 the left illustration of the wood may be considered to be a logor a slab, for illustrative purposes. The salvage machine removes theundesirable wood as wood chips to produce a log having a flat surface ora wane edge flitch, see the right illus tration of the piece of wood.With a flitch, the salvage machine will remove that portion of the woodadjacent to the already existing flat surface to form another flatsurface. The salvage machine saves a saw line and removes theundesirable wood as wood chips and what would have been a waste productsawdust is now a useful product wood chips. Further, the salvagemachine,

by removing undesirable wood as wood chips, opens the face of the woodto further inspection before additional processing of the wood. Byopening the face of the wood to further inspection, it is possible tomore carefully grade the wood. In many instances, what may have appearedto be a low quality flitch or slab, by opening to more completeinspection, may turn out to be a higher quality flitch and therefore canbe processed to a higher quality piece of lumber of greater economicvalue.

The chipper head 100 of the salvage machine comprises a mounting shaft102 and a chipper head segment 104. The chipper head segment 104 has aknife mounting throat 106 for mounting the salvage machine chippingknife 108. A setscrew 110 positions the knife 108 in the throat 106. InFIG. 18 there is illustrated a four step spiral head having chippingknives 108 at 90 angles. These chipping knives 108 are mounted on thechipper head segments 104. In ,FIG. 17 there is an elevational view ofthe chipper head 100 and a view of the alternating chipper head segments104 at 180 angles or at right angles to each other.

In FIGS. 22 through 24 there is illustrated the salvage machine chippingknife 108. The chipping knife 108 has a face 112, a back 114, a gullet116, a trailing edge 118 of the gullet and a heel 120 sloping from theupper part of the face to the back 114. At the junction of the face 112and the heel 120 there is an annular cutting edge 122. With the salvagemachine chipping knife 108 the annular cutting edge 122 functions toclimb out the piece of wood such as a log, a slab or a flitch.

The chipper head 100 of the salvage machine is used in conjunction withan anvil 123, see FIGS. 14 through 16. The anvil 123 will be moreparticularly described in a latter part of the application.

The harvester machine climb cuts or climb mills and rotary mills anypiece of wood such as a log, a slab, a flitch or a mismanufactured pieceof wood. With a log, the harvester machine removes an outer portion ofthe log to form a flat surface and thereby eliminates one saw line perhead and removes the wood as wood chips and by eliminating the saw lineeliminates the manufacture of a waste product sawdust and manufactures auseful product wood chips. With a piece of wood having one flat surfacesuch as a slab, a flltch or a mismanufactured piece of lumber, see FIGS.2, and FIGS. 42 through 50, the harvester machine forms up to three flatsurfaces. With a slab, the harvester machine will form three flatsurfaces and thereby eliminate three saw lines. What would have beenwaste product sawdust is now converted into a useful product wood chips.By the elimination of one or more saw lines there is eliminated transferand handling equipment. Inherent with the elimination of transfer andhandling equipment is the saving on maintenance. In conjunction with theelimination of one or more sawlines there is eliminated small pieces ofwood and chunks of wood, which are a nuisance and quite often the causeof trouble in a sawmill. With a wane edge flitch, a harvester machinewill eliminate two saw lines as it removes the wane, see FIG. 35. Withmismanufactured lumber, see FIGS. 42 through 50, the harvester machineeliminates one saw line.

A harvester machine chipper head 130 is illustrated in FIG. 28 and aharvester machine chipper segment 132 is illustrated in FIG. 29. In FIG.51 there is illustrated a harvester machine chipper head 134, and inFIG. 52 there is illustrated a harvester machine chipper head 136.

A harvester machine chipper head, such as 130, comprises a shaft 138 anda plurality of harvester machine chipper segments 132 and a plurality ofsalvage machine chipper head segments 104.

The harvester machine chipper segments 132 have a knife mounting throat140, a harvester machine chipping knife 142 and a setscrew 144 forpositioning the harvester machine chipping knife 142 in the harvestermachine throat 140.

The harvester machine chipping knife 142 comprises a face 146, a back148, and a heel sloping downward from the outermost part of the face 146to the outermost part of the back 148. Also, the harvester machinechipping knife 142 comprises a gullet 152 and a trailing edge 154. Inaddition, the harvester machine chipping knife 142 comprises sides 156.In FIGS. 25 through 27 it is seen that the sides on the face are widerthan the sides at the back or in going from the face to the back, thesides taper inwardly. Also, it is seen that the main body of the face146 is recessed with respect to the leading forward edge of the sides156. As a result, there is produced a radial cutting edge 158. The sides156 may be ground away so as to always have a sharp radial cutting edge158. At the junction of the heel 150 and the main body of the face 146there is produced an annular cutting edge 160. In addition, because ofthe sides 156 being wider at the front or face than at the back, theannular cutting edge 160 has spurs 162. As is seen in FIGS. 25 through27 the harvester machine chipping knife 142 has three cutting edges. Thecutting edge 160 is considered to be an annular cutting edge and crossmills a piece of wood; and, the two cutting edges 158 are considered tobe radial cutting edges and rotary mill a piece of wood.

On the back 148 of the harvester machine chipping knife 142 there areserrations 164 to assist in positioning the chipping knife in theharvester machine chipping segment 132. The trailing edge 118 and thesalvage machine chipping knife 108 and the trailing edge 154 and theharvester machine chipping knife 142 there is provided a means forprotecting the throat of the chipper head segment so that dust, smallparticles of wood and the like do not get into the throat and also toensure that the wood chips move out of the chipper head and away fromthe chipper head so that more wood may be chipped.

In the harvester machine chipper head 130 there is a first assembly 168of harvester machine chipping knives 142, a second assembly 170, ofsalvage machine chipping knives 108, a third assembly 172 of harvestermachine chipping knives 142, a fourth assembly 174 of salvage machinechipping knives 108 and a fifth assembly 176 of harvester machinechipping knives 142. These are all mounted on the same shaft 138. Thesecond assembly 170 is between the outer first assembly 168, and theinner third assembly 172 and the fourth assembly 174 is between thethird assembly 172 and the outer fifth assembly 176.

In the harvester machine chipper head 136 the assemblies 168, 170, 172,174 and 176 are mounted on the shaft 138. Also, mounted on the shaft 138is a sixth assembly 178 comprising harvester machine chipping knives142. It is seen that the sixth assembly 178 is spaced apart from thefifth assembly 176 by means of a spacer 180.

In FIG. 52 it is seen that the harvester machine chipper head 136comprises assemblies 168, 172, 176 and 178 having harvester machinechipping knives 142 to produce cross milled chips. Again, in rotarymilling, the chipping knives or chipper head cuts completelty throughthe piece of wood being processed or chipped so as to produce the crossmilled chips. Also, the harvester machine chipper head 136 comprises theassemblies 170 and 174 having the salvage machine chipping knives 108for climb milling a piece of wood.

In FIG. 51 there is illustrated the harvester machine chipping head 134on the shaft 138. The harvester machine chipping head 134 has a firstassembly 182, a second assembly 184 and a third assembly 186. Theassemblies 182, 184 and 186 have only harvester machine chipping knives142. Further, the first assembly 182 is spaced apart from the secondassembly 184, on the shaft 138, by means of spacer 188. The secondassembly 184 is spaced apart from the third assembly 186 on the shaft138 by means of spacer 190. With the harvester machine chipping head 134it is possible to process a wane edge flitch to give cants of twodifferent widths and different thicknesses.

With the harvester machine chipper head 136 it is possible to process aflitch, by means of the assemblies 176 and 178, to give a cant and, itis possible to process at least two different slabs or flitches by meansof the combination of assemblies 172, 174 and 176 or by means of thecombination of the assemblies 168, 170 and 172 to give cants ofdifferent widths but of the same thicknesses.

From the chipper heads 130 of FIGS. 28, 134 of FIGS. 51 and 136 of FIG.52, it is seen that many combinations of climb milling and rotarymilling chipping knives can be arranged to process slabs, flitches,mismanufactured lumber and logs to higher valued lumher.

In FIGS. 53 and 54 there is illustrated a harvester machine chipper head200 having shaft 138. The chipper head 200 has harvester machinechipping segments 132 and with each segment 132 having three harvestermachine chipping knives 142 at 120 spacings. In the chipper head 132 itis seen that the chipping knives 142 are in a spiral. In this spiral Ihave found that it is of value to have the outermost knife to be thefirst knife to contact the piece of wood. Likewise, the second mostouter knife to be the second knife to contact the wood and the thirdoutermost knife to be the third knife to contact the wood. This is moreparticularly brought out with respect to FIG. 54. In FIG. 53 it is seenthat the first knife 142 is closest to the observer, the second knife142 is next closest to the observer and likewise with the remainingknives. In FIG. 2 it is seen that the knives in the third assembly 172are so arranged that the outermost knives first strike the piece ofwood, then the second outermost knives strike the piece of wood and theinner knife is the last one to strike the piece of woody Also, in FIG. 2it is seen that in the assemblies 168 and 176 that the outermost knivesare first to strike the piece of wood while the innermost knives are thelast to strike the piece of wood.

In FIGS. 30 through 33, there is illustrated the climb cutting or climbmilling of a slab 202 with the salvage machine chipping knife 108. InFIG. 31 there is illus trated an end elevational view of the slab 202after the step of climb milling has taken place so as to produce a waneedge flitch 204. The cross hatched area 206 illustrates that portionwhich was removed as wood chips by the climb milling action of thesalvage machine chipper knife 108. In FIG. 32 there is illustrated aside elevational view ofa chip 208 as produced by a climb millingaction. It is seen that the upper or leading edge 210 of the chip 208 isthicker than the following or trailing edge 212. The reader can readilyvisualize the reason for this. The chipper head rotates in the directionof travel of the movement of the piece of wood, i.e., slab 202. When thechipper knife 108 contacts the piece of wood, the chipper knife may besubstantially at a right angle or near a right angle to the surface ofthe wood 202. As the chipper head rotates with the direction of travelof the piece of wood, the angle at which the chipper knife 108 cuts thepiece of wood continuously changes until the chipper knife issubstantially parallel with the grain of the piece of wood, instead ofbeing substantially at right angles with initial contact to the piece ofwood, and therefore the trailing edge, due to the parallel situation, isthinner and of less width than the leading edge 210 due to being cut atsubstantially a right angle.

In FIG. 33 there is a plan view looking down on the chip 208 and showingthe variation in length of the separate areas of the wood chip due tothe angle of cutting with the chipper knife 108 on the piece of wood.

In FIG. 34 there is illustrated the cutting of a piece of wood 216,i.e., a wane edge flitch, by means of a harvester machine chipping knife142. The harvester machine chipping knife 142 is mounted in a chipperhead 218 having a number of harvester machine segments 132 in a firstassembly 220 and a spaced apart second assembly 222. There is producedfrom the wane edge fiitch 216 a cam.

In FIG. 34 it is seen that the chipping knife 142 rotary mills so as tocompletely cut through the piece of wood 216. Also, in FIG. 34 it isseen that the annular cutting edge of the cutting knife 142 is atsubstantially the same angle with respect to the grain of the piece ofwood through the entire cut of the piece of wood by the cutting edge160. Therefore, there is produced a series of chips 224 and in whichseries of chips the leading edge 226 is substantially the same length asthe trailing edge 228. In FIG. 37 there is illustrated a side view of anindividual chip of the series of chips 224 of FIG. 36. It is to berealized that in the series of chips 224 that the chipping knife 142continues to break apart the separate chips from the series of chips duepartially to the gullet 152. Also, in FIG. 37 the individual chip 230has a leading edge 232 and a trailing edge 234. The leading edge 232 isof substantially the same length as the trailing edge 234.

In FIG. 38 there is illustrated an end view of the chip 230.

The chip 230 is of a more uniform length than the chip 208. In otherwords, the rotary milled chip is of a more uniform length than a climbmilled chip. As a result, with the digestion of a wood chip in adigester, the fiber length of the resulting cellulose fiber is of moreuniform length from the rotary milled chip 230 as compared with theclimb milled chip 208.

In FIGS. 39, 40 and 41, there is illustrated the combination of a headrig and a harvester machine chipper head or the combination of acarriage, a saw and a harvester machine chipper head. The carriage 236comprises a platform 238 mounted on wheels 240 which ride on rails 242.The carriage 236 supports a log 244 which is moved past a band saw 246and a harvester machine chipper head 248.

As is illustrated in these figures, the harvester machine chipper head248 rotary mills the exterior surface of the log 244 so as to rotarymill the surface of the log and to produce cross milled wood chips fromthis surface and to produce a flat surface 245. Then, the saw 246 cutsinto the log 244 so as to produce a second flat surface 247 and a waneedge flitch 250. Prior to this invention, the outer part of the log 244would have been sawed to make a slab. In the sawing of the log 244 tomake the slab there would have been produced a waste product sawdust.The slab would have been burned or, possibly, chipped to make woodchips. With my invention, the harvester machine chipper head 248 removesthe exterior portion of the log as useful wood chips and eliminates onesaw line and thereby eliminates the manufacture of the waste productsawdust. What would have been the waste product sawdust is now aneconomically valuable useful wood chip.

As is readily comprehended by the reader, the saving of a saw linedecreases the handling of the log 244 and thereby increases theproduction. More particularly, with the prior methods and priorequipment, the outer portion of the log would have been removed as aslab. Then, the carriage would have been returned, the log advanced onthe ways of the carriage and the carriage once again moved past the saw246 to make the wane edge flitch 250. In other words, there would havebeen two passes past the saw 246 to make the wane edge flitch 250instead of one pass to make the Wane edge flitch. And also, there wouldhave been produced the waste product sawdust instead of the economicallyvaluable useful wood chips. With my invention, there is the saving withone log four passes of the carriage 236 and the log 244 past the saw 246and also the saving of four saw lines.

In FIGS. 42 through 50, there is illustrated the use of the harvestermachine chipper head to process mismanufactured lumber to makeeconomically valuable wood chips and economically valuable lumber.

In FIG. 42 there is illustrated a mismanufactured 2 by 4 inches 254. Themismanufactured 2 by 4 inches has a flat surface 256, a flat surface 258and a flat surface 260. The flat surfaces 258 and 260 are joined by acurved surface 262.

The apparatus for processing the mismanufactured 2 by 4 inches, 254,comprises a harvester machine chipper head, fence rolls 266 and supportrolls 268. From the mismanufactured lumber 254, see FIGS. 42 through 46,it is seen that that portion of the wood near the surface 262 andbetween the sides 258 and 260 is removed so that the, essentially awaste product, mismanufactured lumber 254, a 2 by 4 inches, is processedand transformed into useful wood chips and valuable lumber 270, a l by 4inches.

In FIGS. 47 and 48, there is illustrated a mismanufactured piece oflumber 272, a 2 by 4 inches, having a flat side 274, a flat side 276 anda flat side 278. The flat sides 274 and 276 are joined by a curved side280. With the rotary milling of that portion of the mismanufactured 2 by4 inches, 272, near the curved surface 280 there is produced useful woodchips and a valuable piece of lumber, a 2 by 3 inches, identified byreference numeral 282, see FIG. 48.

In FIGS. 49 and 50 there is illustrated a mismanufactured 2 by 4 inches,284 having a flat side 286, a flat side 288 and a flat side 290. Theflat sides 286 and 288 are joined by a curved portion 292. With therotary milling of that part of the wood near the curved portion 292,there is produced useful wood chips and useful lumber, a 2 by 2 inches,identified by reference nu metal 294.

Another feature of this invention is the chipper head moving toward andaway from the piece of wood being chipped. There are many variations ofthe movement of the chipper head, see FIGS. 40 through 43, through 62and 67 through 70. The chipper head is mounted on a shaft. The chipperhead and shaft may move together toward the piece of wood and away fromthe piece of wood, see FIGS. 40 through 43.

The chipper head is mounted on a shaft and the chipper head may movelongitudinally on the shaft. In this regard see FIGS. 60 through 62, 67and 68.

There may be a plurality of chipper heads on the shaft. One of thechipper heads may be fixedly positioned on the shaft and the otherchipper head may move longitudinally on the shaft, see FIG. 60 and alsoFIG. 67. Further, two chipper heads may be longitudinally movable on theshaft, see FIG. 68.

There may be three chipper heads on the shaft with two of the chipperheads fixedly positioned on the shaft and one movable on the shaft so asto be positioned adjacent to the chipper head fixedly positioned on theshaft, see FIG. 60 and FIG. 62.

There may be three chipper heads on the shaft with one chipper headfixedly positioned on the shaft and two of the chipper headslongitudinally movable on the shaft, see FIG. 68.

There may be a set of two chipper heads. Each chipper head is fixedlypositioned on a shaft. A combination of a chipper head and a shaft ismovable toward and away from the other combination of a chipper head anda shaft so as to accommodate various sizes of logs. In this regard seeFIGS. 69 and 70.

In FIGS. 60, 61, 62 and 68 there is illustrated chipper heads on a shaftand which chipper heads may be movable toward each other and away fromeach other. For illustrative purposes, in FIG. 68 there is illustrated achipper head assembly 300. This chipper head assembly comprises a shaft302. On the shaft 302 there is positioned a sleeve 304 and also a sleeve306. Between the inner surfaces of the sleeves 304 and 306 there is achipper head 308 or a splitter head 308. The splitter head 308 uses thechipping knife 142 having the annular chipping surface 160 and theradial chipping surfce 158.

There is in the sleeves 304 and 306 a slot or guide 310. There ismounted on the sleeve 304 a chipper head 312. The chipper head 312 usesthe chipping knives 142. There is integral with the outer end of thechipper head 312 a thrust bearing or collar 314. As is illustrated inFIG. 68, a yoke 316, having fingers 318, connects with the thrusthearing or collar 314 so as to move the chipper head 312 longitudinallyon the shaft

1. A chipper head assembly for rotary milling and climb cutting a pieceof wood, said assembly comprising: a. a first chipping knife; b. asecond chipping knife; c. said first chipping knife having a radialcutting edge and an annular cutting edge for cutting on the face of thepiece of wood; d. said second chipping knife having an annular cuttingedge for cutting on the face of the wood; and, e. the annular cuttingedge of the first chipping knife being on a larger radius than theannular cutting edge of the second chipping knife.
 2. A chipper headassembly according to claim 1 and comprising: a. said first cuttingknife having a face, a back and sides between the face and the back, anda heel; b. said heel sloping inwardly from the upper part of the face tothe upper part of the back; c. the width dimension of the face beinglarger than the width dimension of the back so that the width of thecutting knife decreases upon going from the face to the back; d. thejunction of the side and the edge of the face projecting forwardly ofthe main part of the face so as to have a recessed face; e. the junctionof the side and the edge of the face defining said radial cutting edge;and, f. the junction of the face and the heel defining said annularcutting edge of said first chipping knife.
 3. A chipper head assemblyaccording to claim 1 and comprising: a. a plurality of first chippingknives in a side-by-side relationship to form a first sub-assembly; and,b. a plurality of second chipping knives in a side-by-side relationshipto form a second sub-assembly.
 4. A chipper head assembly according toclaim 1 and comprising: a. a plurality of first chipping knives in aside-by-side relationship to form a first sub-assembly; b. a pluralityof second chipping knives in a side-by-side relationship to form asecond sub-assembly; c. a plurality of first chipping knives in aside-by-side relationship to form a third sub-assembly; and, d. saidsecond sub-assembly being between said first sub-assembly and said thirdsub-assembly.
 5. A chipper head assembly according to claim 4 andcomprising: a. said first chipping knives in said first sub-assembly andin said third sub-assembly being in a spiral relationship in a saidsub-assembly; and, b. said second chipping knives in said secondsub-assembly being in a spiral relationship.
 6. A chipper head assemblyaccording to claim 4 and comprising: a. a plurality of second chippingknives in a side-by-side relationship to form a fourth sub-assembly; b.a plurality of first chipping knives in a side-by-side relationship toform a fifth sub-assembly; and, c. said fourth sub-assembly beingbetween said third sub-assembly and said fifth sub-assembly.
 7. Achipper head assembly according to claim 1 and comprising: a. aplurality of first chipping knives in a side-by-side relationship toform a first sub-assembly; b. a plurality of first chipping knives in aside-by-side relationship to form a second sub-assembly; and, c. a firstmeans to position said first sub-assembly and said second sub-assemblyin a spaced apart relationship on the same arbor.
 8. A chipper headassembly according to claim 7 and comprising: a. a plurality of secondchipping knives in a side-by-side relationship to form a thirdsub-assembly; b. a plurality of first chipping knives in a side-by-siderelationship to form a fourth sub-assembly; and, c. said thirdsub-assembly and said fourth sub-assembly being on the same arbor andwith the third sub-assembly being between The second sub-assembly andthe fourth sub-assembly.
 9. A chipper head assembly according to claim 7and comprising: a. a second means to movably position said firstsub-assembly on said arbor so as to vary the distance between the firstsub-assembly and the second sub-assembly.
 10. A chipper head assemblyaccording to claim 9 and comprising: a. said second means comprising afirst fluid actuated ram connecting with and for moving said firstsub-assembly on said arbor.
 11. A chipper head assembly according toclaim 10 and comprising: a. said second means comprising a first thrustbearing connecting with said first sub-assembly; and, b. a first yokeconnecting together said first thrust bearing and said first fluidactuated ram.
 12. A chipper head assembly according to claim 10 andcomprising: a. said first means comprising a second fluid actuated ramconnecting with and for moving said second sub-assembly on said arbor.13. A chipper head assembly according to claim 10 and comprising: a.said first means comprising a second thrust bearing connecting with saidsecond sub-assembly; and, b. a second yoke connecting together saidsecond thrust bearing and said second fluid actuated ram.
 14. A chipperhead assembly for rotary milling a piece of wood, said assemblycomprising: a. a first chipping knife; b. said first chipping knifehaving a radial cutting edge and an annular cutting edge for cutting onthe face of the piece of wood; c. a plurality of first chipping knivesin a side-by-side relationship to form a first sub-assembly; d. aplurality of first chipping knives in a side-by-side relationship toform a second sub-assembly; e. a shaft; f. a first means to positionsaid first sub-assembly on said shaft; g. a second chipping knife; h.said second chipping knife having an annular cutting edge for cutting onthe face of the wood; i. the annular cutting edge of the first chippingknife being on a larger radius than the annular cutting edge of thesecond chipping knife; j. a plurality of second chipping knives in aside-by-side relationship to form a third sub-assembly; k. a secondmeans to position said third sub-assembly on said shaft; and, l. a thirdmeans to movably position said second sub-assembly on said shaft so asto vary the distance between the first sub-assembly and the secondsub-assembly.
 15. A chipper head assembly according to claim 14 andcomprising: a. said second means comprising a first fluid actuated ramconnecting with and for moving said second sub-assembly on said shaft.16. A chipper head assembly according to claim 15 and comprising: a.said second means comprising a first thrust bearing connecting with saidsecond sub-assembly; and, b. a first yoke connecting together said firstthrust bearing and said first fluid actuated ram.
 17. A chipper headassembly according to claim 14 and comprising: a. said first meanscomprising a second fluid actuated ram connecting with and for movingsaid first sub-assembly on said arbor.
 18. A chipper head assemblyaccording to claim 17 and comprising: a. said first means comprising asecond thrust bearing connecting with said first sub-assembly; and, b. asecond yoke connecting together said second thrust bearing and saidsecond fluid actuated ram.
 19. A chipper head assembly according toclaim 14 and comprising: a. said third means comprising a first fluidactuated ram connecting with and for moving said second sub-assembly onsaid shaft.
 20. A chipper head assembly according to claim 19 andcomprising: a. said third means comprising a first thrust bearingconnecting with said second sub-assembly; and, b. a first yokeconnecting together with said first thrust bearing and said fluidactuated ram.